It’s been another great week of enjoying my parents’ visit! While we worked and went to school each day, they got in their daily walks to town and enjoyed trying out lots of restaurants and happy hour spots. We stayed busy every evening too!
Monday night was Ryan’s night. My parents really love taking him to the Lego store, so we went into Stuttgart and spent a while there while Ryan perused just about every Lego set in the store before laboriously choosing one. He is really excited about the new Star Wars set he picked out, mainly because this week is the end of the school quarter, and he will have plenty of time to work on it coming up.
Tuesday was another big night for Ryan: he was promoted again in Civil Air Patrol to Cadet Airman First Class. It was extra special because it coincided with my parents’ visit. Ryan asked if one of them could pin on his new rank, and my Dad won the coin toss. We are all so proud of Ryan!
After I was off work on Wednesday, my parents and I enjoyed a happy hour at The Boathouse. It was a gorgeous fall day; sunny and crisp. The biergarten at The Boathouse is getting ready to close, and they were assembling their winter hut in the garden, a sign that winter is coming.
On Wednesday night, Brooklyn had another shift at Pizza Hut, so we went there for dinner. We had the pleasure of ordering from her and eating in the food court. Kenneth was also at the food court and joined us for dinner!
On Thursday, after school and work, Brooklyn, my mom, and I spent some time at the mall. Then, while Ryan was at Boy Scouts and Brooklyn was at the piano, the four of us adults went to the Brauhaus in Boblingen for dinner.
Brooklyn and Ryan’s last day of the school quarter was Thursday, so they were off school on Friday, which was also my day off. It was a gorgeous day, so we took my mom and dad to the Wilhelma Zoo in downtown Stuttgart. While we have been to the zoo twice for the Stuttgart Christmas Walk, we have not been there to see animals, so we were excited to go finally.
It was a beautiful day! It almost reached 70F, so there was no need for coats. We enjoyed the sunshine and all the cute animals!
After the zoo and Matt got off work, we packed the car for our trip to Garmisch. It’s almost halfway between where we live and where my aunt and uncle live in Italy, so we were meeting them for a mini-reunion weekend. We did not arrive at the Edelweiss Lodge until around 8:30 pm, but their on-site restaurant, Zuggy’s Base Camp, was still open, so we had a late dinner. The restaurant is newly refurbished and has a new menu. Previously, the food had not been that great, and their pizza had the #1 spot for the worst pizza I had ever eaten (seriously, even worse than the pizza in Tromso). But, I’m happy to report the food was much better, even the pizza, albeit more expensive. We finished the night with a few drinks and were ready for bed.
When we woke up Saturday morning, it was another absolutely gorgeous day. The “grown-ups” (my parents, aunt, and uncle) wanted to go to town and shop, but we wanted to do something outside in the beautiful weather. We saw the hotel was renting out bikes, and Ryan had a biking requirement he needed to fulfill for Boy Scouts, so that sealed the deal for us. We grabbed some e-bikes and headed out to Lake Eibsee, our destination.
We chose Lake Eibsee because I had seen pictures of the beautiful fall foliage a few weeks earlier and wanted to see it for myself. The route from the hotel first took us through a beautiful pasture overlooking the Alpspix mountain. The cows were in the meadow, and all we could hear were cowbells; so pretty! Many other people were hiking, biking, and enjoying the lovely weather.
As we left Garmisch, the route took us through steep mountain paths that even the e-bikes struggled on. Thank goodness we were not on regular bikes! Finally, after about an hour, we were out of the woods and at the lake. It was so pretty! We biked the trail to the opposite side and got some photos of the lake with the Zugspitze in the background. Sadly, though, there was no beautiful fall foliage at Eibsee! All the trees surrounding it were pine, so it was as green as it could be 😂. I texted my friend and asked her which lake she had been at a few weeks prior- it was Reisersee, right around the corner from the hotel.
We jumped back on the bikes and started back, taking the road instead of the mountain paths. We FLEW down the mountainside for quite some time. We did not realize how much elevation we gained on our trip through the woods!
We finally made it to Reisersee, and while, sadly, this was the right lake, all the leaves had fallen off the trees, so there was no fall foliage. It was still a beautiful spot with a restaurant, and we were all starving, so we ordered lunch. One of Matt’s co-workers, who lives in Garmisch, met us for coffee after our meal. It was a great afternoon. Afterward, we biked the short distance back to the hotel, returned our bikes, and napped.
For dinner, we had reservations at Zum Wildschutz, one of our favorite Garmisch restaurants. The restaurant is decorated like a rustic Bavarian cabin and offers a sampling of German food on small plates. It was so good!
After dinner, we returned to the hotel to split a couple of bottles of wine in the lobby.
Sunday morning marked the time change in Europe. Thank goodness we got an extra hour of sleep because we needed it. We had breakfast with my aunt and uncle, and then we said a teary goodbye out front. The weather was still amazing—I mean, it is pretty lucky to have three gorgeous days in a row in Germany, especially in the fall.
After leaving the hotel, we quickly stopped at Partnach Gorge in Partenkirchen. The entrance is right by the Olympic Ski Jumping stadium, and we arrived just as some jumpers were practicing. We got to see them go off the jump from right in front of it. It was so cool!
We took a very short hike to the blue-green Partnach River and took photos before returning to the car.
We arrived home by 3 p.m. and had time for a long nap before a cozy dinner and TV time. It was a great weekend!
Gilcrests Abroad 